"Imagine all the people living life in peace. 

You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. 

I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will be as one."

John Lennon

Enjoy the Beauty of Nature

"Without a doubt Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge is a national treasure—one of the top wildlife spectacles to be found on Earth! Due to previous inaccessibility, this subtropical paradise is virtually unknown to nature photographers and wildlife watchers alike. A visit here is a fantastic opportunity for astounding wildlife experiences and incredible nature imagery!

Located 2,800 miles west-southwest of San Francisco, 2,200 miles east of Tokyo and 1,250 miles northwest of Honolulu, the “Midway Islands” are appropriately named for their strategic location at the midpoint of the Pacific Ocean. Millions of nesting seabirds and shorebirds migrating from the Arctic find refuge here as, formerly, did the US Navy. The naval presence focused a great deal of public attention on this isolated outpost in mid-ocean and, indeed, Midway played a pivotal role in the outcome of World War II.

In spite of major disruption by war, US Navy operations, installation of giant airplane runways, and several obsolete commercial interests, Midway's birds have remained a constant and amazing presence. Eighteen seabird species that number nearly three million birds nest at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge each year—and of that number almost a million are Laysan albatrosses. Considering the size of the tiny islands, this is a truly enormous population of breeding birds. Today, the refuge supports the world’s largest nesting concentrations of Laysan and black-footed albatrosses, white terns and Bonin petrels."  Joe Van Os

Credit Joe Van Os www.photosafaris.com

Being Alive!

"People say that what we're all seeking is a meaning for Life.

I think that what we're seeking is an experience of being alive...

Actually feeling the rapture of being alive."

-Joseph Campbell

Loving What Is

"When we love what is, it becomes so simple 
to live in the world. 

The world is exactly as it should be."    

Byron Katie

Possibility

"Apparenty there is nothing that cannot happen today."  

Mark Twain







photo Andromeda Galaxy

Your Daily Emerson

Our life
is an apprenticeship
to the truth
that around every circle
another can be drawn;
that there is no end in nature,
but every end
is a beginning,
and under every deep
a lower deep opens.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson
























Desert Sage Fractal

My Secret

"Do you want to know my secret?

 I don't mind what happens."

Krishnamurti

The Life Tapestry: Weaving, Knots, and Tangles

The Life Tapestry: Weaving, Knots, and Tangles

"We are the weavers, 
We are the woven ones,
We are the dreamers, 
We are the dream".




It has been said that our lives are a tapestry that we weave, choosing color, fabric, texture, style, and design. Each of us is entirely unique and bring gifts and talents to the world which, if the tapestry is woven cleanly, shine through as we become who we truly are. We express the beauty of our lives through the weave.

What has become curious to me is how we become tangled along the way. Certainly there are times when the weaving of this metaphoric tapestry is smooth and even with each strand delicately and precisely put into place in the grand design. We feel confident and centered, open to a little adventure here and there, enjoying our lives with all the "ups and downs",' knowing that the bumps will ease soon enough. But sometimes we also begin to notice little tangles in the threads which can over time, if not undone, become knots which then seem to stop up in our progress. We see and feel these knots in different ways, often times in our bodies, appearing as headaches and stomach aches, intestinal upsets. Our thinking becomes distorted and filled with worries, both real and imagined. Life ceases to be easy and graceful as it becomes challenging, difficult, and contracted. We no longer are in the flow; we feel stuck, lethargic, uninspired. Or we may feel anxious and worried, knowing something isn't quite right but having no idea what that might be.

These knots then. What are they? My belief, based on personal experience as well as sharing many stories with friends and clients, is that they are unresolved emotions. 

If, during an experience, we feel intensely and yet we do not express those feelings then they are pushed down into our subconscious where they lay dormant. But just as the sleeping tiger of addiction is quiet when the addict is not actively using a substance, these feelings continue to exist whether or not we are aware of them.  A momentary feeling which is not a "10" on the Richter scale of emotions can still conjoin with other similar emotions to create aden of entanglements, much like the Medusas head of swirling snakes. Much of the time we have little or no awareness of this storehouse, that is until an external event takes place and our Tiger or Medusa rises up into ferociously into consciousness, bringing into the light those emotions which have been kept hidden and out of sight. A sudden headache, fatigue, depression, anxiety looms.....We begin to feel tense. We start to feel the knots. Our tapestry continues to be woven knots and all.

As we notice our tangles, we have taken the first step toward untangling them. We allow ourselves to safely feel them and as we do, they can be released. We need not attack them with intensity and instead can begin to see when they come up, when we feel them, when it is safe now to feel these emotions. We can choose to find ways to express our understanding of our tangles through writing, music, dance and movement, art, and storytelling using metaphor and symbology. These tangles and knots lose their power over us. There is energy tied up in the knots which then becomes available to us. Herein lies the GOLD.

It is possible to choose to weave your tapestry without tangles. It is possible to choose to be free.

Breathe Allow Untangle.....



Quote From Spiraling into the Center by Lorna Koehler

Getting into Heaven Egyptian Style

Getting into Heaven Egyptian Style

Getting into Heaven

excerpted from The Bucket List, a film.

Sitting top one of the Egyptian pyramids, the two men survey the landscape. Having both been diagnosed with terminal illness, they had recently embarked on a world-wide adventure, vowing to see and do everything they had desired to experience in their lives from visiting Africa to skydiving to seeing The Taj Mahal. One of the men, Edward Cole, was very rich but lonely, bankrolling their travels while the other, Carter Chambers, had been a car mechanic his whole life, a working man, and married to the same woman for 50 yrs. They were in stark contrast to one another yet shared the common thread of facing death.

"Do you know what the Egyptians think about getting into heaven?" Carter posed to Edward.

"Not a clue" Edward replied.

"They say when you go to Heaven God asks you 2 questions to decide if you get to come into Heaven or not.  Do you know what they are?" said Carter.

"Nope" shrugged Edward.

"Well, the first question is Have you found Joy?" said Carter.

"Oh, well I suppose I have found some joy" Edward said hesitantly.

"Ok, and the second question is Have you brought Joy to others?" said Carter quietly.

"Hmmmm, well, um.  (silence)  We all do the best we can" said Edward. (he begins to explain why he is not seeing his adult daughter).

"Yes, but have you brought Joy to others???" questioned Carter.

In many ways we have become self absorbed in our desire to experience happiness in our lives which may translate into Joy. But how often do we think about bringing Joy to others? The quote "Let me be an instrument of thy Peace" might be one to think about today as we nurture joy within ourselves and then radiate that Joy outward to others.

Question: How am I giving and receiving Joy in my life?

Love

In this world
Hate never yet dispelled hate.
Only love dispels hate.
This is the law,
Ancient and inexhaustible

Addiction as a Spiritual Illness

Addiction as a Spiritual Illness

FROM OUR BLOG ARCHIVES


This is the first of an ongoing blog exploring the origins and nature of addictions.
From the time we are very young, we are taught social and cultural standards of behavior and acceptability. We begin to look outside of ourselves for approval, seeking the smiles and coos of our parents, looking for the mirror that tells us that we are "ok". We fear their absence as well as their negativity knowing that our very survival depended on their care. We looked for the eyes of our mothers, fathers, and other "nurturers" who would hopefully give us unconditional love and acceptance, making our world safe and stable and without which we would experience abandonment and death. This was our fear.

The pure and unconditional love which we sought from our parents is the same love which is the Highest Truth of the Universe and even with their most sincere efforts with love and care for us, they could never achieve the perfection of Universal Love which is enduring and unwavering, without conditions and expectations. Our parents are humans just as we are humans.

When, in those wondrous moments, we did know love and all the positive feelings that came with it, we began to experience need as we looked to the Other, something outside of ourselves which would fill us with such sweetness. We began to the lose conscious memory of our innate connection to the Divine, to God, to Universal Love, as we continued to seek the external remedy for our separateness. We began to feel a sense of emptiness without the external to fill us.

Years pass. The child becomes the youth who becomes the adult. The adult who still seeks to be filled with Universal Love and Acceptance. The adult who has forgotten how to find his or her connection to God which exists in every moment without any effort at all...And often times, these feelings of deep separation are painful ones, and pain that must be soothed if only for a moment. The external search, the Grasping, becomes paramount in life and finds The Perfect Thing, just The Perfect Thing, that if only for a moment makes the pain go away.

The deep desire for the sweetness of Love becomes an addiction. This Longing is a Spiritual Illness.
Food
Drugs
Alcohol
Sex

Rage and Anger
Work

Depression
Relationships
Intensity
Attention

Acceptance

Drama

Lying

Stealing

Information

Body Image

Music
Worry
Shopping

Success

Achievement

Crime

Smoking

Television

The Internet
Gambling
Compulsive Activity
Exercise
and
People or Codependency

Anything at all which takes us away from our natural connection to the Divine.

Anything that becomes destructive and Soul Stealing.

Anything that is out of balance and becomes more important than living the unfettered life.

Anything at all.

Think about it.

Question: How can I connect to the Universal Source of Love today?

Upcoming topics include Healing Addictions, the Role of Emotions, and Compassion.

Artwork Kuan Yin, the Chinese Goddess of Love, Compassion and Mercy.

Shamanic Healing Salve: Silence

Shamanic Healing Salve: Silence

"In the sweet territory of silence we touch the mystery. It's the place of reflection and contemplation, and it's the place where we can connect with the deep knowing, to the deep wisdom way".

Angeles Arrien in The Millionth Circle

The Shamanic Healing Salve or "medicine" of the West is Silence. In modern times, we have in many ways lost this sacred and very important healing modality, lost to the rush, rush, rush of every day life. The busyness or business of our lives seem to leave little time for contemplation, for soul moments when we may listen to the voice of our own hearts. There are so many things to do as well as so many things to think about!

Indigenous cultures not only honor silence as part of their way of life, but they set aside time for silence with solo time in nature. From the time children are quite small, they are encouraged to listen to the sounds of nature without intrusion, learning the lessons of the cycles of life through the intrinsic changes of season which include birth, fertility, full flowering, decline, death, and rebirth. They watch and learn.

So many of us have forgotten the ways of peaceful silence.

In his haiku on silence, poet James Traverse says:

Silence speaks volumes 

without uttering a word

nothing is unsaid
Take a few moment today to enjoy the sweet fullness of silence...

Photo Navarro River by Victoria Marina-Tompkins

Your Daily Jung

"Do you think somewhere that we are not Nature, 

that we are different from Nature?

No, we are in Nature and think exactly like Nature".  

C G Jung from The Earth Has a Soul